


ribbons

by misura



Category: The Kane Chronicles - Rick Riordan
Genre: Fade to Black, Light Bondage, M/M, Mildly Dubious Consent, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 13:47:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29351415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: Thoth gets Setne exactly where he wants him. Or possibly the other way around.
Relationships: Khaemwaset "Setne"/Thoth (Kane Chronicles)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 6





	ribbons

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lady_Ganesh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Ganesh/gifts).



_Take that, Hathor!_ Thoth thought with a certain smugness.

Granted, he'd designed his own ribbons with a slightly ... different purpose in mind than hers - or, not to put too fine a point on it: he'd specifically designed these ribbons to catch one specific person, rather than as a boon for all magicians. (Then again, hadn't he given them enough already?)

"Thoth!" If Setne felt at all inconvenienced or embarrassed, he hid it well. "My man! Loving the ribbons! Very nice! I mean, what's a new outfit compared to the pleasure of your company?"

The tattered remains of Setne's clothes were scattered on the floor around him. Thoth made a mental note to get his baboons to collect them later, when they had a few spare moments to spare from being busy with that odd ballgame they'd taken to playing for no reason Thoth could discern.

Thank himself he still had his trusted ibises to help out.

"Setne," he said. He tried to sound cool, casual, yet he couldn't deny feeling a certain thrill. As the god of knowledge, he knew very well what sort of reputation he had. "Such a pleasure to see you again."

"Same here, Thoth, old friend." Setne smiled. "Meant to drop by sooner, but you know how it is. So much to do, so little time."

"So many others to rob and steal from, yes, I'm sure," Thoth said.

Setne stopped smiling. "Now, come on, that's not fair, is it? You wrote a book - you! Thoth, the god of knowledge! Can you really blame me for wanting to get my hands on that?"

 _No._ "You could have asked," Thoth said. He would have refused, of course. Certain things weren't meant to be known to humans - and Setne was hardly trustworthy.

"I wanted to impress you," Setne said. "There. I said it. You're Thoth! What chance do I stand of impressing a god, if his very aspect is the thing I've dedicated my life to pursuing?"

Thoth vaguely recalled that he'd made a plan for this meeting at some point. He'd planned to capture Setne with his ribbons, and tell him wise men did not steal from gods, and then - and then -

"So you'd be willing to give the book back then? I mean, surely you've read it by now," he said.

"Yeah, I found it a little dry - kidding! A joke!" Setne grimaced as the ribbons kept him from raising his hands. "Read it? I _devoured_ it!"

That sounded less than ideal. Still, possibly just as well. Thoth allowed himself to relax, but of course then Setne went on: 

"I stayed awake and didn't eat for three days and three nights because I didn't want to stop reading. Thoth, you are a genius. My favorite person in and out of the Duat."

 _Ah, right._ That _kind of devouring._ Thoth was no stranger to all-consuming research himself, of course. He allowed himself, briefly, to imagine sharing that with Setne, keeping Setne with him the way he did his ibises and baboons. Setne was clever, and skilled, and intelligent company.

True, Setne'd made enemies, but once Thoth had taken him under his wing, it would be a very great fool who would dare try to touch him. Thoth might not have the fearsome reputation of some of his fellow gods, yet knowledge was power - the power to defend what was his every bit as ferociously as a hippo defending her young.

"The implications - the practical applications - mind-blowing," Setne said.

"There can be no practical applications," Thoth said sternly. "Or rather, there shouldn't be," he amended, because the thought of Setne thinking he, Thoth, was too ignorant to see them stung.

"Oh, of course not! I agree!" Setne said quickly. "I mean, messing with the gods themselves? No, no, nothing good can come of that, you're completely right. Sorry if I gave you the wrong impression. I just let my enthusiasm get the better of me for a moment there. You understand, don't you?"

 _Yes. I understand all too well._ Thoth swallowed. Could he really blame Setne for stealing a book he himself should not have written to begin with?

Well, yes, obviously he could, in the same way a smith might blame a man for stabbing another man to death with the knife he had forged. Except - except that Setne didn't seem to have done anything. Yet.

"Be that as it may," he said, "to what do I owe the pleasure of your company today?"

"I told you: I'm a fan." Setne grimaced again. "Are these ribbons really necessary? We're friends, aren't we?"

"You stole from me, and I caught you when you returned to the scene of your crime," Thoth said. "That hardly makes us friends."

Setne rolled his eyes. "If the pursuit of knowledge is a crime, then, sure, tie me up. Do whatever you want with me."

"I could transform you into something amusing," Thoth said. That would be one way of keeping Setne, actually. A few hundred years as an ibis or a baboon (would Setne enjoy ballgames?) and who would care if Setne had committed a few crimes here and there?

"Trust me, I'm most amusing as I am right now. Try me," Setne invited.

"Try you?" Thoth repeated, amused and, all right, a little intrigued. True, he'd spelled the ribbons specifically to strip Setne and leave him completely at Thoth's mercy, mostly because Thoth had felt that when it came to confronting Setne, he needed every edge he could get.

Not that he would admit as much to Setne or any of the other gods.

"I didn't come to steal anything, you know. I came here for you," Setne said. "You want me tied up, that's fine with me. A little kinky, but hey, who says that's a bad thing? Not me. No judgment here."

 _Osiris does not, in fact, employ a judge for 'kinkiness',_ Thoth almost said, but didn't. It would feel like showing off or, worse, trying to impress Setne, never mind that he did, in fact, want to do exactly that.

You could have any ignorant oaf fall down at your feet in worship for showing him something he'd never seen or been capable of conceiving of before: to win the loyalty of someone like Setne would take a lot more - as well as be much more satisfying.

Thoth wouldn't actually authorize Setne to steal for him, of course. He was the god of knowledge, not the god of thieves.

Still, if one or two hard to find volumes belonging to unreasonable and downright unpleasant beings were to appear on the shelves of his library ... no one need ever know, surely.

"Are you offering me favors of a carnal nature in exchange for your freedom?" Thoth asked, shelving the matter of the rare books for careful future consideration.

Setne chuckled. "Whoa. Way to take all the romance out of it, buddy. But yeah, sure. If that's how you want to put it. I mean, I could do a lot more for you with some more freedom of movement, but like I said, no judgment here if you like it a bit kinky. We can always do the wining-and-dining later, how's that?"

"You really didn't come here to steal anything?" Thoth found that hard to believe - as well as very easy. He _wanted_ to believe. "I have - " he cast about for things he had recently acquired, things that would interest a man of Setne's tastes " - a lot of stuff. Books."

Setne smiled at him, eyes warm with admiration and, yes, a certain kind of amusement, though Thoth preferred to think Setne was amused at himself, rather than at Thoth. "Cross my heart and hope to die."


End file.
